Crossover

Chapter 12 In Search of Aria

Chapter 12

In Search of Aria

    Derek, who had only been awake for a few minutes, sleepily reached the scrambled eggs and bacon his mom left out for him on the kitchen counter. Never needing much time to get ready, he would always wake up just before it was time to leave for school. All had to do was throw on his baggy jeans, tan shirt, and worn sneakers and then he was good to go.

Beep. Beep.

    He glanced out the front window and saw Ian in his red convertible, waiting. Realizing he had to go, Derek put the rest of his eggs on a folded piece of toast and went out to his ride.

    “Hey, man. What’s up?” Derek greeted.

    “Hey, Not much,” Ian replied tiredly, but when saw that Derek brought his breakfast in the car he grew more alert and added, “Be careful with that, man. Kendal gets kind of upset when I make a mess in here.”

    Derek rolled his eyes. “Seriously, Dude? This is your car, not Kendal’s.”

    “I know, but I drive her to places a lot in this car,” Ian pointed out with a shrug. “She just wants it clean.”

    Derek sighed realizing there was no point in arguing. “Whatever, man.”

    When the two boys arrived at school, Derek observed something interesting. “Hey, Cooper’s all by herself today.”

    Everyday, they would see Aria Rosenberg and Vanessa Cooper arrive at the school together. Derek couldn’t help but feel curious. Ever since he had known Aria, she had never missed a day of school.

    “Maybe Rosenberg’s with that Calloway kid,” Ian suggested. “They seem to be getting pretty serious.”

    Derek grumbled at the thought of those two together. “I still can’t believe how fast she fell for his cheesy tactics. I always thought Aria was the kind of girl that had more sense.”

    Now it was Ian’s turn to roll his eyes. “Dude, you’ve got to let this whole Edmund thing go. Even Kendal’s dropped it, now. Also, you keep making it harder to believe you’re not into Aria.”

    “For the one millionth time, I don’t like Aria!” Derek snapped in frustration.

    Ian shrugged as he tried to suppress his grin. “Sure, whatever you say, man.”

xXx

    By lunchtime, there was still no sign of Aria. As Derek walked over to his usual table, he noticed Vanessa Cooper heading towards the exit, still wearing a worried expression. He couldn’t help but wonder what was going on with her and Aria. Vanessa had seemed distant and concerned all day. Derek wondered if she was going to go to Aria right now. For some reason even he did not understand, he had to find out.

    As Derek approached Ian, sitting alone at their table he asked, “Hey man, can I borrow your car?”

    Ian looked up at his best friend thrown off by the question, but replied, “Um, sure. Why?”

    Derek scratched his head, trying to come up with some reason quickly. “I, uh, left my English homework at home and was going to sneak off during lunch to get it.”

    Ian now appeared utterly puzzled. “I don’t think we had any English homework.”

    “Sure we did,” Derek insisted. “Remember? We were suppose to, um… write a poem about something important to us.”